Decca 424
My first radar validation, on the 424, was in early 1970. Despite its quirks we used it to its “maximum” . At the board I was asked how many aircraft I would control at a time, I replied “one”, the examiner just grinned! It was always suggested that our “tels guys” altered the waveguide a little!
We often operated as a twosome , as we did with the later 430 ( we were one of the first civil users of that, it came to us with no map overlay, our engineers invented one) .
One controller vectoring on the left and on the right the half mile SRA tube. In between was the control panel with tilt switch and tuners. You’ve probably guessed the unit, about a mile and a half west there was a ridge by the M1 motorway producing a very noticeable collection of PEs.
I can remember pushing the tilt down while in the left hand seat to see inbound traffic for vectoring and receiving a very bruised right hand as the controller on the right was trying to tilt up to see his blip pass the PEs at about a mile and a half on 08. Also that was where invariably there was a marked change in drift! Good memories and always a satisfaction of completing many many “ half milers” in marginal conditions JB
Last edited by oldandbald; 16th Feb 2012 at 21:22.